How to start a day?

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I was reading Amandeep Kaur, a life coach, in a daily and feel like recording an extract of her writeup that inspired me much. If one feels concerned with his/ her health and wellness, the advice so contained in the extract is worth following and the readers of this blog can take full advantage of it as a matter of awareness and a meaningful pointer in day today life of every one. The extract under reference is reproduced below:

“How we start our day sets the tone for the entire day. When we begin our day with a grateful heart, contemplating the greatness within and around us, its fragrance spreads throughout the day. Taking out some time for ourself, in the first hour, is time well invested. It could be just a few minutes of quiet time, focussing our mind in meditation or being one with nature looking at lush green trees, the blue sky, chirping birds and breathing all in.”

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Those who can’t help themselves?

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Those who can’t help themselves are the ones whom none else can help for the simple reason that they don’t deserve it. There are instances when you come across the persons whom you want to help but they are not at all receptive it. Initiative on the part of the givers is meaningless if the takers lack it miserably. Why it happens like this? What an individual has to have is a sort of an inbuilt allotment to him by Nature or say destiny in a remote sense and his thought process works accordingly. Strike when the iron is hot is the saying but there could be a person just striking the iron without applying his mind that for the requisite outcome this has to be hot in which case there is nothing to blame the iron but the concerned man himself for not appropriately applying his common sense. A confused mind normally doesn’t land any where; if he allows his confusion to have a precedence over a conscious approach it is he himself to be blamed and not the other exterior channels. If one is conscious enough to pursue his goal with the required amount of conviction, he is sure to succeed as against those who just lack necessary initiative in the matter.

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What does conscience stand for?

I was going through a post of a co blogger of mine the other day. She confessed several things normally people don’t do. I liked it. But how many persons are there who honestly confess things in their life, or even if they do so, how many are there to express themselves really in honest terms. Very often it is seen that the confessions are made by the people only in a guarded manner, which means that whatever they are speaking is barely the half truth, or even no truth at all. Such an expression is meaningless and has nothing to do with honesty. If conscience is the focal point, one has to make necessary expressions faithfully and truthfully. There is no compulsion as such that one has to accept his/ her ills and evils, heavens woudn’t fall if some body is not honest in the matters of expressions, but in that event one can’t claim his/ her conscience as the basis. Once conscience is the basis, the honesty demands that there has to be no hide and seek of any kind.

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Fear of the unforeseen!

The saying goes that ‘an empty mind is a devil’s work shop’, but this very workshop is active otherwise too even if the mind is not empty. Psychologically all humans have a propensity of thinking loose as howsoever best they try to control their mental waves, it only reverses to a further amount of loose thinking. True, some thing untoward may happen to some body at any stage of time, the fear of it unnecessarily continues haunting in the situation otherwise also. What should one do in such circumstances?. The seers advise that one should go for meditation by concentrating on certain objects which interest him or her. What happens in the process is just the otherwise. Mind starts travelling unbridled landing at varying situations inviting  more amount of uneasiness. The best alternative is to allow the mind the way it prefers to travel simply trying to pickup some soothing ideas here and there.

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Back to barefoot:

Much earlier the people used to be advised that they should always move with their shoes on in their legs for the reason that there was every chance of some infection or the other occurring to them if they moved bare footed. This advice has since undergone big changes for health reasons. With the exception of those who otherwise suffer from diabetes or are highly vulnerable to infection because of some serious ailment, people in the normal cases need not, rather should not, prefer to keep their shoes in their toes all the time they are on a move outside or even in their house hold. The preachers of Yoga very often suggest that the use of shoes should be the minimal most for the reason that it is of much advantage health wise to walk bare footed to the extent one can afford. This energises the body veins ending at the toe points including heels generating an equitable circulation of blood from toe to head as a result of a modest pressure starting from the paws and the heals going upward to skull. More stress is accordingly laid on walking bare footed to the extent one can feasibly manage.

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Yoga–It has some problematic areas too:

I have written number of articles on Yoga in this very blog highlighting the advantages side of it in many ways, which it definitely has, and there is no point in disputing them. The very saying that it suits every body in any age group ranging from 5 years to 105 years too is true. What is typically significant is that a better health through yoga warrants some basic strength for the persons who practice it. For example, pranayam or anulom vilom are forbidden to those who have some sort of heart problem or the other. Similarly those who suffer from Asthama need not go for these exercises. Those who have pain in their back or knees are always advised not to go for the yoga asanaas involving stress on the body joints. Persons having any kind of breathing problems are advised to avoid stress. If yoga is practiced with such problems existing, it causes difficulties for the persons concerned, and what happens as a result is that instead of any improvement in their health as such, their problems compound in various dimensions. Too much of practice even in the normal cases is also not advisable, as excess of any thing is bad. If these precautions are meticulously followed while practicing yoga, yoga is certainly the one therapy that benefits the human body system in thousands of ways. The very thinking on the part of several individuals that yoga is something to be practiced in any situation is actually not correct.

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If there was a shop in the market selling happiness!

Like there are many a things in the world which can’t be purchased against any price, happiness too is something which one can’t buy as a composite item from any shop in the market. Happiness is a combination of several factors. It’s just not like going for some purchase of a laptop or a car that gives me a satisfaction of owning them, or it’s not like seeing some movie and draw a frugal momentary satiation. If heart works virtually in a coherent collaboration with mind and mind itself is free from any strain or tension, the newly acquired things mean a double pleasure. If mind is not free from several encumbrances like pre-occupation by other extraneous factors like worries on different counts, the pleasure I may draw from acquiring some thing or the other, it just fizzles and fades out miles away obliviously going into nullity. Good health, a sound mind free from any kind of strain, and a heart that has no malice or a false prejudice, are the factors that bountifully attract happiness and peace. These factors have to be brought into a combination through the efforts made by the concerned person himself/ herself. Happiness is thus a phenomenon not just purchasable from the market, but a matter of self generation of the required situation for the purpose by the individuals concerned.

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When one feels highly perturbed?

There are situations when a person feels disturbed mentally finding it difficult to get out of it. Those, who believe in God, rush to some temple bowing down before the statue of the Deity and beseech in front of Him to seek His blessings. His inner self feels consoled to a greater extent. Those who don’t believe in an element like God, like me who lacks such an amount of faith in a Godly factor, things are too difficult for them, as they have no source available to them to recline upon and shed their tears  flooding out of their mental agony to elicit some solace. In fact the consolation and some peace the devotees to God are able to draw is nothing that comes out to them from outside or as the blessings of the Almighty; it factually springs up from within themselves, the source being their own faith. Their faith, true or false, helps them. Likewise, the non devotees to God too can depend upon their own concepts and belief within themselves, the way Vivekanand did with his concept calling it ‘…I am myself God’. It is self searching, which, if done appropriately, brings tremendous results. Another simple method is to realise that the problems one is facing are not confined to himself; there are many who could be having more of them in a bigger measure. If they can struggle and survive, why not the other individuals, with lesser amount of agony, can do it.

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Holi, the festival of festivities:

^{It (this picture) looks like that of a garbage but is in fact collection of wood from the felled trees with their rough mass collected by the local people to accumulate as a big heap to be used as an open air bonfire around which the devotees from hinduism are to assemble in a large number marking the advent of spring season celebrating it as the festival of festivities. This takes place a day before HOLI and, believe as they do, a new year starts with this. There are several stories connected with the festival one of which says that Hirnakashyap, a power full demon, wanted himself to be worshipped as God (Vishnu) but he was opposed by his own son Prahalad who in turn was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu, the God. Hirnakashyap wanted to get rid of him entrusting the job to his sister Holika (Prahlad’s aunt) who had the boon not to get harmed by fire. As per plan so designed with a religious ritual in the back ground she entered into the bonfire taking Prahlad in to her lap obviously with a pre  determined mind to get him burnt and killed remaining her self safe and alive as the fire was not to harm her as per the boon she had. What happened was just the reverse. It was she herself and not Prahlad who was engulfed and devoured by fire flames. Prahlad, a devotee as he was of Lord Vishnu, remained safe and intact without any slightest possible harm to him. What further followed was the killing of Hirnakashyap himself by Lord Vishnu. Solemn devotion thus prevailed over the evil and it is with this message that the festival is observed as Holika Dahan.}

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Each move counts

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Many a lessons and many a sermons on yoga and other physical exercises are there in plenty with no dearth of multifarious devices and modes for the purpose. Well, it is ideal if one is able to acquire proficiency in different forms of disciplining physical activities but it doesn't denote that no result is possible unless a person is thoroughly proficient in various exercise modes. One may just begin with a zero level of knowledge in the field. Physical system in itself is a workshop that enables a person to most leisurely direct his/her own curriculum generating activities. Doing nothing and still doing so much is the very nature of the Man. Sleeping, keeping awake, eating, talking, moving, smiling, laughing, playing and the likes are the activities essentially associated with any living being. Discipline these activities just moderately with a total compromise with your own body system and the harmony it generates is soothing and refreshing. Sleep is a bliss but you can't force it on you. You have to earn it with the simple process of taking things easy without any strain on your mental faculties. Every body eats but every body does not relish. Food stuff is not to be galloped, it is rather to be chewed and swallowed with ease which process not only enhances taste but doubles its energy properties. Walking is necessary but is not to be confused with strolling. Some people go on longer brisky walks after meals which is not advisable as it disturbs the system but can prove quite useful if it is done after a gap of atleast an hour after food intake. Limited strolling on a moderate note after meals is OK. Water intake during meals or immediately after it does not support the system but is advisable say half an hour later. Food intake apart, gaps in different activities play a vital role on health angle. Items being the same, their properties work differently depending upon the gaps in them. A well maintained cycle of actional gaps is a sure way to a better health and fitness.

Yoga sans practice on art of living ?

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Yoga's popularity growing by leaps and bounds is a clear message that this vedic science is recognized by all and sundry as an effective measure to moniter one's health with a well difined system for the purpose. Like it happens with any thing getting popular that when its growth starts its misuse too comes into picture. People use it and also misuse it. You go to any yoga session, the very common scene is that of rich people with bulky bodies and body level bulging out disproportionately. Rich as they are they can well afford any mode of treatment irrespective of the cost involved and they feel that can purchase any thing they want from the market including health. It is not a desirable way of approach as yoga fails to give the required impact if necessary required discipline in living pattern is not strictly adhered to. Austerity measures on food intake time, physical movements and balanced diet are the essential ingrediants in yoga which, if followed strictly, prove capable of giving wonderful results.

Good, bad and evil

What is good and what is bad or evil is not a question of today, it is as old a question as the world itself. I came across an interview of certain top ranking religious heads besides Shri Ravi Shankar and Shahrukh Khan, the most popular film actor on this question. The versions of interpretations on the subject were varying but interesting. Books on mythology are full of references on the topic read, interpreted and reinterpreted by eminent scholars but the very question still remains like it was in the beginning. Bhagwati Charan Verma, the author of 'Chitralekha', the book that made him a giant amongst writers overnight, chose this very theme for his novel. What is Paap (evil) is the question Chitralekha asks a Guru leaving him non plussed. Mahatma Gandhi's three monkeys are well known the world over, the three who teach that ...don't talk ill, don't see bad, don't hear wrong. Lord Budha's teachings are all on that count only. Take any religious leader, they invariably cover this question as topic of their sermons. Shahrukh opted to answer this question based on his convenience. His version was that there is nothing wrong in acquiring massive wealth or lead a luxurious life with the caution that a person should not get attached to these things. This again is too vague an answer in the sense that there is hardly anything like enjoying it and disowning it in the meantime. The precepts contained in Bhagwat Gita are all centred around this theme only.

Infact the very system on earth is the combination of both good and bad and wherever there are divine intentions there are evil designs too. Good and bad both exist parallel to each other. Where there is God, there is also Satan. The pertinent aspect of which hardly any notice is taken is that Satan himself is only the part of God Himself. Moreover, no definition of this topic was ever given by any one which was uniform. It keeps on

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changing. From age to age the definitions given and interpretations made are found to be highly conflicting for the reason that these things were all based on the life pattern that obtained at a particular stage of time. All religions talk of causing no harm to others. In practice this is not what they actually do. Certain religions are there to justify killings. These very people develop their food habits, some are vegetarians and some are there to be non vegetarians. Non vegetarians in many cases are those not lagging behind in talking of love for animals and birds. How come it could stand the truth. You love a bird but you kill it, or some one else does the job for you, you are not for harming any live being but you kill a goat or other animals to satisfy your taste. The question is difficult but the answers to this given by preachers are more grotesque and anomalous.

Rating alone is not a real merit

There are ratings for every thing and there are different testing rods to determine on different counts. Basis for this is worked out the way it suits the agency concerned. Merit also differs from one individual judge to another according to their whims and fancy. During my college day I was a candidate in an Inter University debating contest on the subject where I had to use a few words of criticism by way of a critical appreciation against the National Poet like Maithili Saran Gupta. One of the three judges of the team who was a D.Litt on the poet. He got annoyed and gave me only 5 marks out of 100 as against the other two who gave me 96 and 98. I did stand first in the competition but I never forget the instance thinking as to how there are people suffering from prejudices. If ratings are honestly based on merit, where is the question of judges applying their individual bent of mind. If performance has to be judged, it has to be done based on the way a contestant plays his role without acting as a sycophant to the people who sit on judgement. A girl candidate in her ICS exam (old form of IAS) had to appear before a team consisting of two judges -one being too fat and bulky and the other one was like a pitch dark horse complexion wise. One of the questions put to her by the interviewers was as to what type of a husband she would like to go when marrying. Prompt was the reply '..the one neither as fat as you are (addressing to fat man) nor as black as you are

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(addressing to the other black complexioned man). When the result was announced, she was declared selected and found her name in the merit list. Look, if the judges had any individual prejudice on remarks individually against them she was not to be selected at all. Ratings are a common feature in the present day of tough competition in all fields and honesty demands that necessary recognition be extended to performance wise merit without forcing one's own whims and fancies.

No compromise on love:

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Those giving sermons spelling out discourses very often emphasize in the name of detatchment theory that it is but necessary to abandon the family in pursuit of attaining moksha (salvation).They could be correct from their point of view but it looks damn selfish. What is real can't be done away with. There are certain instances in history and also different mythologies where the ones who metaphysically persued their religious approach never opted to run away from the family. When Lord Budha after attained enlightenment returned, a big crowd was there to receive him, hankering to get just a glimpse of his with the only exception of Yashodhara, his wife and the queen. She was requested by her attendants and all others to take the chance. She refused. Her contention was that the Lord himself is supposed to reach her as she was his wife and not just a beloved. Lord Budha came to her, humble and apologetic. Reiterating his love for her he said that whatever he could achieve was just because of her and that she was above every thing for him as but for her love he could not have been able to attain what he did. The other instance is that of Swami Ram Teerth, a mathematician and an intellectual giant, who despite having withdrawn himself from worldly affairs as a saint kept his wife with him as a matter of love, a bond of attachment. His conviction was that the great source of achieving a target is love only and nothing is possible without it. Unfortunately she was not with him during the last days of his life near Gangotri but thoughwise he was never without her. It is a mistaken notion particularly on the part of religious preachers that love is materialistic and it spoils the pursuit for salvation. It is just the contrary as love is immanentllly powerful to attain what is not possible otherwise.

Better a dog that works...

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It counts to read and follow the saying –

Better a dog that works

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Than a lion who shirks

One could be good enough, kind enough and generous enough but what is the use of any amount of qualities in persons if they are lethargic, inactive and lazy always allergic to any kind of work and activity oriented labour. Dog is quoted in the above lines but the fact remains that any dog you come across is always found engrossed in some activity or the other never loitering here and there without any purpose. Lions too are known well for their strength and agility but if they just start whiling away the time, there is none to recognize them. It is actually the work and labour that gives a person or even animal a quality to elicit necessary recognition. ‘Work is worship’ and such a worship in real physical terms counts much more as against a worship in temples as after all it is primarily the work that brings source of livelihood and sustentation.

Diabetes is controllable !

Normally diabetes is taken as a dreaded disease in the sense that it is supposed to cause multifarious complications in the body system compounding to various ailments one after the other.There are many to claim that it is fully curable and necessary prescription on that count are pouring into market every now and then. Doctors are not of one opinion and each one tells about it purely from their commercial point of view. I am not a doctor nor have done any academic course on it. I am just as good a patient as thousands of people in the country.I strongly believe that curable or not but diabetes is certainly controllable if necessary regimen of a disciplined life pattern is followed. Based on my individual experience as a patient, the following is the text of what I once submitted as a frugal brief to ACCUCHECK as requisitioned by them:

"Diabetes is disease that is more a challenge than ailment. If tamed, it infact alerts a patient against likelihood of different ailments. The disease is undoubtely capable of causing havoc as cells in the pancreas damaged once are irreversible but, if taken seriously and as a challenge, the harm so caused can be taken care of.What is required is a proper monitoring with a sense of perseverance. I am in mid sixties having diabetes for the last 3 decades -blood sugar shooting up 480 at one stage in Jaslok Hospital,Mumbai. Presently, say continuously for the last 3 years, it is under control with Blood Sugar (Fasting) hardly exceeding 90 and Blood Sugar (PP) remaining within 118. I am insulin dependant with 9 Units (Human Mixtard) before breakfast and 19 Units at dinner. Pathological test sugar is meticulously done every month besides a daily checkup through Diastix. Dietary precautions I take as advised by doctors prove helpful in overcoming disorders likely to occur otherwise.

I resorted to insulin at my own as the concerned doctors were all advocating for an increased dose of different tablets which, to my mind, are a cause for some adverse effect or the other to vital organs in the body. This switch over gives me the confidence that it hardly causes any side effects and that the amount of dose can accurately be measured in terms of the need staggering it upward or downward as be the cassse in consonance with food intake. I don't think an accurate and well measured dose of medicine is possible in the case of talets. Pricks that an isulin taker undergoes are no doubt inconvenient but it is worth ignoring them in the context of protection and safety it offers to a patient of diabetes."

A big anomalous feature which the patients of Diabetes suffer from most is that they are unnecessarily required very often to call on their doctors paying them exhorbitantly.Diagnosis wise and from pathological point of view, doctors opinion is certainly the need. This is the factor where it is very difficult to get the correct opinion with an accurate pathological test.Doctors opinion in most of the cases is just commercial. Only a few are lucky to get proper advice. But the problem is where the patients should go. What they should do is to only initially concentrate on obtaining a proper diagnosis on disease whereafter concentration has to be more on follow up with self monitoring without wasting money and time by calling on doctors simply to know about their current rate of sugar fluctuation which they can do better and with more of confidence if they resort to devices available for the purpose like glucometer to check sugar and Blood Pressure monitor to check the blood pressure which is a normal problem with the diabetics. The three instruments e.g. Huma Pen for those who are insulin dependent using pen instead of routine syringe, striips to check blood sugar and Glucometer are cursorily indicated in the photograph above. The mode and kind of these devices may vary according to individual preference. Investment on these devices is worth it if you compare much bigger an amount you have to spend by depending on outside sources and that too hardly reliable.

Self discipline, self monitoring and self followup are the essential measures which are capable of giving much more relief to diabetics compared to confusing opinions commercially given by the doctors. I am not for not consulting physicians at all but what I plead is to secure necessary confidence on where your ailment stands which is possible only when you do it yourself. Patients are to consult doctors only on selective basis and the followup measures can best be followed by them themselves in much better and safe a measure sticking to routine medication, testing and healthfully better dietary intake. Normally what doctors suggest on diet is the same what their predecessors used to prescribe ages back. How funny it looks that when you go to a physician, he hardly talks to you for a few minutes and what he invariably has to do at the end is to put a stamped version of diet which he might have done dozens of times with other patients before you called on him. This is the system the topmost doctors in the city adopt.

With adequate precautions, self monitoring and a regular follow up it is no more a difficulty in controlling diabetes. There are conflicting opinions whether it is fully curable or not but diabetics need not take it for granted that it can be eliminated simply because some doctor or the other boastfully claims so.For routine medicinal preliminaries and followup measures, you yourself can be the best judge.

What 786 stand for ?

Many a questions are raised to me on several occasions by those who are inquisitive to know something or the other to satisfy their anxieties. One such question was asked to me some time back when I was in Kolkata. I gave an elaborate reply to the full satisfaction of the question raiser. A brief version of my reply is like this: Digital translation of Bismillah-ul-Rahman-ul-Rahim in Islaam is 786 denoting a new start in the name of Allah,the God. This one is actually the Persian equaivalent of ‘Shri Ganesh Shayenamah’ in Hindu religion. Normally in no language such a start is through figures. Figures like 1008 are used in Vedic languages denoting the personality concerned bestowed with 1008 noble qualities but it is always at the end. Islaam is possibly the only religion where 'Bismillah' starts with 786 to mark a beginning. The readers of this post may correct me if I am wrong.

No crying a halt !

With a definite mind coupled with required zeal and ferver, one can have no difficulty in moving forward to the direction required for achieving a set goal. Those who waver and are always in a double mind can’t land successfully. Success embraces those who are determined and are equally committed to the cause they feel they are required to serve –a cause that helps others, a cause that is meaningful in the sense that it has a definite positive side for the fellow men..Vibekanand heralded the message to go ahead and ‘stop not till the goal is achieved’ and so should be the spirit on the part of every body who believes in work and who has a mission to serve without crying a lalt to the move, without giving up..